(First off, let me say I understand that Michael Moore is controversial and is very good at telling his side of the story.)
Last night MrPages had a sore throat, a tight chest and watery eyes. It seemed a good night to put up our feet, open up the laptap, and enjoy a movie. He’s been waiting to see Michael Moore’s new movie Sicko for awhile now. It seemed apropos.
I have no words to express my horror at this film:
- a young man having to sew up his own wound because he has no insurance.
- a woodworking hobbyist having to choose what finger to reattach because he can’t afford to pay for both.
- retired parents having to move into the corner of a daughter’s crowded basement because they had to declare bankruptcy because they couldn’t pay the deductibles anymore.
- a woman losing her eighteen-month-old toddler because the hospital she was taken to didn’t work for her insurance company. This woman had full insurance, but her baby died because that particular hospital wouldn’t have been paid!
And that’s just a few of the many people interviewed.
I feel so blessed to live in a country that currently offers universal health care. And then a great fear wells up in me as I realize that more and more Canadians want a two-tier system, so they can get “better” health care.
How can what is happening in the US possibly be considered better? Better for who? Only the wealthy? What kind of civilization is that?
Every Canadian needs to see this movie. We need to see what the chase for profits will do to our system. We need to understand that it is a privilege to help those in our society that cannot help themselves.
Even members of my own family tout the benefits of a system that would allow for them to pay to get the help they want when they want it. I think their being naive. The reality is that their children and grandchildren could not afford such care.
If I lived in the United States, I COULD NOT GET ANY HEALTHCARE COVERAGE. I have a benign heart murmur, possibly the result of childhood heart surgery. There isn’t a single HMO that would insure me. I would have to pay for any health care out of pocket. I don’t have that kind of money. It would have cost me $10,000 to have one baby! That’s if there were no complications. No wonder many of my US friends are having unattended births at home. This is absolutely insane!
So if my taxes are the cost of insuring that all Canadians will continue to have Universal Health Care, than I will gladly pass those dollars over. If it means I have to wait a bit longer at the doctor’s office, then I will be patient. If it means it will take some time and extra money to deal with the problems that do come with universal health care, then I will stop complaining and try to be part of the solution.
Because the alternative is truly sick.
No related posts.
Hey there! I just came across a comment from one of you on my hubby’s blog (Jeff Greathouse) and came over to read. I totally understand your disgust with our healthcare system here in the states. Although part of me has this intense urge to defend it to a “foreigner”. My best-friend married a Candien last year and moved to British Colombia and she’s having a very difficult time getting used to universal health care. She doesn’t think that she gets anywhere near the expert care she got in the states. The problem with her perspective, is that when she lived here she had insurance the entire time. She was never denied care because of lack of it. She never had bills out the wazoo because of a lack of insurance. She was one of the lucky ones. My family on the other hand has been in tough situations. I have Crohn’s disease. Because of this, last year when we took a new job that paid for private insurance instead of supplying employer-paid group insurance, we couldn’t find private insurance that would touch me with a ten foot poll. Actually we did find one…. just one. It was expensive and didn’t have prescription coverage at all. Unfortunately I got seriously ill while on this insurance and racked up over 30,000 dollars in bills last spring, of which the private insurance only covered about 2000 dollars. We ended up having to find a job that would supply us with employer-paid group insurance. Under the American Hippa Act, all employer-supplied group insurance must cover pre-exsisting conditions. We are truly blessed that we were able to find this job and it’s amazing benefits. Of course we still have all those bills from the last job, but it’s at least not getting much worse.
Just out of curiosity… how long does it take to get into the doctors and to have surgery’s scheduled and done in Canada? I’ve had surgery five times since last March and each time, when they discovered that it was needed, it was done immediately. Honestly, I’m not sure what the answer to the healthcare crisis is. Our system in this country certainly isn’t it. Our government has it so messed up that it’s sickening. What I do know is that SOMETHING has to be done.
Well, that’s my rant for the day. Thanks for reading.
Seriously, I don’t normally rant on a new person’s blog, this post just hit home bigtime!!
Well, we’ve had great experiences, but we’ve heard of folks who haven’t, and it does also depend on your attitude toward things.
My brother was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 40. He was in for chemo and radiation the same week.
From the time they decided that surgery was the option, my father waited about two weeks for surgery to remove a small tumour from his lung. Much of that was getting records from one doctor to the other. My parents thought that the whole wait time (something like 8 weeks once the initial “oh oh, there’s a spot on this lung” call was made) was too long. Based on what they told us of the process, we didn’t. The stress of it being YOU that has the tumour is of course a big factor in that.
I damaged my knee and had to have arthroscopic surgery. From the time that surgery was indicated to the day of my surgery was about 4 months. I didn’t mind at all. I could walk fine and was in minor pain. If I couldn’t walk or was in pain, I could have had it bumped up.
When I had a suspected thyroid issue, I was in for an MRI the next day.
Folks with degenerative bone issues wait 8 or 10 weeks for a hip replacement.
It’s a matter of stepping off the “I want it all for ME NOW.” treadmill and looking at real priorities. Those are met just fine.
There are some issues with wait times for some ailments, mostly centering on equipment or specialists. One of the long-standing issues here is the government’s lack of funding for doctor’s and nurse’s salaries, but I think that’s a problem with the government rather than the health care system…
Thanks for stopping by!!